TORONTO – The Save Ontario Species coalition (S.O.S.) is happy for the Jefferson salamander and the wood turtle, not so much for the American badger. The three are among nine endangered species that have just received habitat protection under the Ontario government’s Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Ten habitat regulations were scheduled to be in place by June 2009. Nine have been completed for the following species: American badger, barn owl, eastern prairie fringed-orchid, Engelmann’s quillwort, few-flowered club-rush, Jefferson salamander, peregrine falcon, western silvery aster and wood turtle. The woodland caribou regulation has yet to be released.

S.O.S. is pleased with several of the habitat regulations, noting that those for the Jefferson salamander and the wood turtle set a particularly strong precedent by closely following the science-based recommendations of the recovery teams.

“We’re happy to see that the habitat regulation for the Jefferson salamander takes an ecological approach and protects breeding, overwintering and migratory grounds,” says Amber Cowie, greenway conservation coordinator for Ontario Nature. “We hope that this regulation gives the salamander a toe up in its fight to survive amid the development pressures that continually threaten its home.”

The Jefferson salamander is a tiny amphibian with four front toes and five rear toes that lives under logs, in loose soil or in leaf litter. It is threatened with extinction in Ontario mainly because of habitat loss and degradation.

The wood turtle will also receive greater protection against habitat loss as well as poachers in the pet trade.

“This is a species that is declining across much of its range,” says Dr. Anne Bell, Ontario Nature’s senior director of conservation and education. “Given the impact of habitat loss and degradation on these turtles, it was critical to make sure that the habitat needed for nesting, feeding and hibernating was covered. The government has delivered a strong, science-based regulation for the wood turtle.”

Under Ontario’s Endangered Species Act, a habitat regulation does not restrict all land uses, but rather defines the area where the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) will regulate harmful activities. Activities that do not harm habitat can occur without change. Activities that harm the habitat can only proceed if the MNR issues a permit.

Many southern species such as the barn owl and badger have learned to eke out an existence in an already altered rural landscape. In many cases, habitat protection for these species means maintaining current land uses; for example, keeping working farms working and protecting against development.

The badger habitat regulation was an opportunity to break new ground in how habitat in working landscapes could be defined. Instead, the regulation sets a poor precedent by reducing habitat to actual badger residences, few of which are known.

“We recognize that habitat identification for the badger is not easy, but a more precautionary approach should have been applied here,” says Rachel Plotkin, biodiversity policy analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation. “A five-metre buffer around known dens does little to protect this highly secretive and imperilled creature.”

Estimates suggest that fewer than 200 badgers remain in southern Ontario.
-30-
For more information contact:
Anne Bell, Ontario Nature – (416) 444-8419 ext. 239
Amber Cowie, Ontario Nature — (416) 444-8419 ext. 273; 647-330-3576 (cell)
Rachel Plotkin, David Suzuki Foundation – (613) 594-9026; (613) 796-7999 (cell)

About Save Ontario’s Species: S.O.S. is a collaboration among CPAWS Wildlands League, the David Suzuki Foundation, Ecojustice, Environmental Defence, ForestEthics, and Ontario Nature. For more information, visit www.saveontariospecies.ca .

Join the RHN and Andy McKinnon at the Rouge Valley on Saturday 13 June at 8am, to explore the evolving wetlands — birds, frogs, and all. Andy is a well-known naturalist and conservationist who has explored all the nooks and crannies of the Rouge. We’ll meet at the Pearse house across from the Toronto Zoo (directions below) at 8 to hike down into the valley. Participants should wear good footwear and long pants.

The Rouge Valley Conservation Centre (Pearse House) is at 1749 Meadowvale Road in Scarborough. Drive north on Meadowvale from Sheppard, stay in the right-most lane, follow the blue RVCC signs, drive up the ramp and turn right at the top.
( The following TTC bus routes serve the RVCC: 85B from Don Mills subways station, 86A from Kennedy subway station, and 85A from Rouge Hill GO station.)

From Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

It’s May, perhaps bird watching’s biggest month, as millions of birds return from the tropics, filling the Northern Hemisphere with summer’s full array of birds. It’s a great time to go bird watching, and Chris Wood and Jessie Barry from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are inviting you to go out with them—in a new free series of web videos, “Inside Birding.”

Jessie and Chris share their tips, tools, and techniques for identifying birds with confidence—whether you’re new to birding or seeking to hone your skills. In the first four episodes, learn the secrets of the “four keys” to bird identification. Join Chris and Jessie in the field as they practice using size and shape to identify common birds. Learn how to use color pattern and behavior for critical clues about a bird’s identity. And travel with Chris and Jessie to the swamps of Florida as they explain the importance of habitat when you’re looking for birds.

After watching the videos, explore the rest of the newly redesigned All About Birds website. It’s packed with stunning images and information about every aspect of birding. Enhance your bird knowledge by visiting our popular Bird Guide, with more than 500 species profiles, new photo ID tools, cool facts, sounds, and video. Peruse the Living Bird section for articles about travel, science, and conservation. Practice using the four keys to identification or sharpen your knowledge about Songs and Calls in the Building Skills section. Check out the Multimedia theater to watch videos about birds from the Arctic, coasts, and grasslands—or learn more about attracting birds right to your own yard.

We hope you’ll bookmark your favorite pages and visit often. Enjoy the birds!

Your friends at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

At the Oct 16th RHN general meeting, Jean Iron, former President, Ontario Field Naturalists, will speak on Shorebirds, Bears and Natural History of Akimiski Island.   While volunteering on Akimiski Island in James Bay, Nunavut, Jean Iron conducted intense ground surveys of shorebirds and their habitat for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The north coast of this uninhabited island of 3001 sq. km. is particularly important to southbound shorebirds.

The public is cordially invited to this event which is sponsored by the Richmond Hill Naturalists.  There is no admission charge, parking is free and refreshments will be served.

When: Thursday, October 16, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church, Wallace Hall, 10066 Yonge St.
More information: Marianne Yake, 905-883-3047

By Deb Chute

Since April, my camera and I have been shooting the butterflies on theDavid Dunlap Observatory Parklands. We started with the small Blues in thespring and are moving into the Monarchs of July/August.

Since this is a new venture for me, I am learning as I go. Thanks to help from Jeffrey Glassberg’s book, Butterflies through Binoculars, The East, I have been able to identify 10 species and have photos to show five of them. Thank you also to Alan Macnaughton and Glenn Richardson of the Toronto Entomologists’ Association for confirming and commenting on my observations.

Identified so far are: Silvery Blue, Canadian Tiger Swallowtail, Northern Pearly-eye, a Hairstreak, Little Wood-Satyr, Common Wood-Nymph, Monarch, and, of course, Cabbage Whites and European Skippers and I think a White Admiral.

One hot day in mid-July, as I was hiking through the David Dunlap fields, I was treated to a view of what seemed like hundreds of dragonflies hovering over the field. It was truly amazing. A better camera than my little Cyber Shot could have caught the flashing of their wings crystal-like in the sun.

My camera and I will keep snapping. Next attempt could include Dragonflies. So far I have two pictures. One is a male Ebony Jewelwing and the other is a female 12-spotted Skimmer.

Anybody want to help?

Watch a Slideshow or click below to view the DDO Butterfly Video.

By Denise Potter

While Rod and I have tried to explore every public park and ravine in our neighbourhood, the David Dunlap Observatory property was always off limits to us, the dense forest surrounded by a fence laced with “Private Property! No Trespassing!” signs.

We’d often see deer in the meadow fronting on Bayview, and once a coyote, and once a fox streaking into the woods like a ghost, but rarely had we ever passed the gates and climbed the winding road up to the Observatory itself.

It is not an old forest. Our people chopped down the original forest to farm the land before Confederation. Decades ago, U of T students planted many of the trees we see now, and many are transplants from Europe and elsewhere, but still they have grown to make a place that is something like wild.

Because the University of Toronto may soon declare these 189 acres of meadow and forest to be “surplus land”, we need to explore the interior, document it, get to know it, just in case it disappears forever beneath the asphalt desert that has buried much of the rest of Richmond Hill.

So for the past few weekends we’ve walked the DDO, and have been startled by the diversity and abundance of wildlife we’ve found. In a brief hour on Thanksgiving weekend we surprised a Cooper’s hawk, three passing Sharp-shinned hawks, and a red-tailed hawk…a triple-handful of flickers, hairy and downy woodpeckers, a pair of Eastern Towhees, an astonishing number of robins, hermit and wood thrushes. There were gold finches, house finches, purple finches, chickadees…tiny ruby-crowned and golden-crowned kinglets, red- and white-breasted nuthatches. Some thickets were full of white-crowned sparrows, others offered cover to hordes of white-throated sparrows and juncos. Yellow-rumped warblers and cedar waxwings trilled while a family of catbirds mewed at us.We didn’t see deer but they clearly saw us…we heard their alarm calls in the forest all around us but never laid eyes on them through the thick undergrowth. On later walks we’ve seen a phoebe and even a merlin, glowering at us from the radio tower.

The following Saturday was the Ontario Nature meeting of representatives from Nature groups around central Ontario. Keynote speaker was Ian Shelton, a well-known U of T astronomer longing for Dark Skies, but pointing out that much real valid work still goes on at the DDO.

Despite the blustery weather, some of the visiting representatives and several Richmond Hill naturalists spent another pleasant hour walking the DDO lands. RH Naturalist Joe Ag, a long-time neighbour of the DDO lands, led us along a well-used deer trail through meadow, orchard and thicket to a kind of secret place. Coyote, raccoon and other creatures have left their mark in many places on the path. Not far from Bayview, but completely hidden from the traffic, among the stands of maple, birch and hawthorn, we found the fascinating yellow birch trees, standing on their toes above the dirt, their tangled roots sprawling naked to the world over the ground.

Fortunately an MNR forester (not sure of his name) was there to explain that the yellow birch often begin growing on the stumps of dead trees, so their roots begin above the ground and grow down over the stump, spreading across the top of the soil. The damp earth beneath the roots was scored with the prints of deer hooves.

Several explorations later Rod and I realize we have barely begun to know this piece of land. I suppose to many people it’s just an obstacle they have to drive around. To me it is the largest remaining fragment of wilderness within walking distance of my home, a refuge where hawks spiral across the empty sky and the sounds of traffic are slightly muted, a place where you might see anything, if you look carefully.

A hardy group of folks from the RIchmond Hill Naturalists met at the Kleinburg CoffeeTime on a relatively mild Saturday morning before heading over to Joan Love’s spread. Joan’s feeders as usual were attracting a nice variety of birds (Red- and White-breasted Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers, Goldfinches, Junco’s, House Finches, CHickadees, Cardinals, Bluejays), but nothing exotic. A walk down through the river valley produced nothing of note. Upon heading down the hill back towards the house, a raptor was spotted at the top of a bare tree. Initial guesses were of Kestrel, but upon more close looks that was rejected. At a distance, through binoculars, it looked somewhat like a sHarp-shinned Hawk, but the tail was not right. Finally we brought a scope out and we all got a good look, including the eyebrow and tail markings, which all pointed to Merlin. As we were finishing our last looks at this very cooperative bird, another raptor flew into a tree on the other side of the house. This was undoubtedly a SHarpie, and gave us all a great chance to do the comparison.

Heading off up Major MacKenzie from Joan’s place, a Northern SHrike on the phone line was seen by a number of people. Up on the flats a number of raptors could be seen, the first couple being Red-tailed Hawks. The next one to show up was kind enough to land in a tree not too far from the road, and was clearly a (light-morph) Rough-legged Hawk. It was nice enough to take flight when people had it in their binoc’s, showing the neat ‘elbow patches’. While trying to scope the various hawks, a few folks tracked down some Song Sparrows and Field Sparrows down a side road/driveway. Seeing that a very long freight train was blocking the southward portion of McGilvary and Huntington Roads, we opted to head North up Huntington, along which more Red-tails and another Rough Legged Hawk were seen, as well as a Coyote in a field seen by a few.

Stoppping at the Nashville Cemetary, the group began a scanning of the row of cedars at the back, which quickly yielded what turned out to be 5 Long-Eared Owls. One took off over the cemetary, being harassed by a noisy flock of Blue Jays, but giving us all great looks.

Given the hour, it was agreed to head South now, in hopes that the train had crept out of our way. It had indeed and, along with a few more sightings of Red-tails, we had great luck at some freshly manured areas on a field on the East side, where a large number of Horned Larks were busy working over the bugs. A good chance for great scope views.

After these successes, we headed off to the pub in the Longchamps restaurant, which had a cheery fire going to help revive frozen toes and fingers. A pleasant lunch with lively discussion of the neat birds seen brought a nice outing to an end.